Kronos Quartet with Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat Placeless
About the Artists
Kronos Quartet
Mahsa Vahdat
Marjan Vahdat
Since 1973, San Francisco’s Kronos Quartet — David Harrington (violin), Gabriela Díaz (violin), Ayane Kozasa (viola), and Paul Wiancko (cello) — has challenged and reimagined what a string quartet can be. Founded at a time when the form was largely centered on long-established Western European traditions, Kronos has been at the forefront of revolutionizing the string quartet into a living art form. Today, with new voices and renewed vision, Kronos continues to forge the sound of the people and issues of our time.
Kronos stands among the most celebrated and influential ensembles. The group has performed thousands of concerts across six continents, released more than 70 boundary-pushing recordings, and collaborated with a remarkable range of composers and artists. Kronos has commissioned over 1,100 works and arrangements for string quartet — including the recently completed Fifty for the Future, a free online library of 50 new works from leading living composers that serves as a vivid expression of Kronos’ belief in open access and the continual reinvention of the string quartet repertoire.
Kronos' contributions have been recognized with more than 40 awards, including three Grammy Awards, the Polar Music Prize, the Avery Fisher Prize, and the Edison Klassiek Oeuvre Prize. In 2024, the Library of Congress acquired the Kronos Quartet/Kronos Performing Arts Association Archive, a comprehensive collection spanning five decades. That same year, their 1992 album Pieces of Africa was inducted into the National Recording Registry, recognizing its enduring cultural and historical significance.
Kronos’ adventurous approach traces back to its origins. David Harrington formed the group after hearing George Crumb’s Black Angels, a groundbreaking work inspired by the Vietnam War. That singular moment ignited a lifelong mission: to expand the language of the string quartet and confront the world’s complexities through music.
From the outset, Kronos built a bold and eclectic repertoire — performing works by 20th-century masters like Sofia Gubaidulina, Astor Piazzolla, Alfred Schnittke, and Henryk Górecki; contemporary voices such as Sahba Aminikia, Nicole Lizée, Vladimir Martynov, and Aleksandra Vrebalov; jazz legends including Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Maria Schneider, and Sun Ra; rock icons like Jimi Hendrix, Sigur Rós, Pete Townshend, and Café Tacuba; and genre-defying artists such as Laurie Anderson, Trevor Paglen, and Tanya Tagaq.
At the heart of Kronos’ identity is fearless collaboration. Among its most prolific partnerships is Terry Riley, whose works include Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector (1980), Salome Dances for Peace (1985–86), and Sun Rings (2002). In 2025, the ensemble traveled to Japan to celebrate Riley’s 90th birthday and perform with him — a testament to their enduring connection.
Another long-standing collaborator is Aleksandra Vrebalov, who has written more than 20 works for the ensemble, including Pannonia Boundless (1998) and Beyond Zero (2014). Kronos has also collaborated extensively with Philip Glass, Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, and Steve Reich, whose major string quartet works were written for and recorded by the ensemble.
Kronos’ most ambitious initiative, Fifty for the Future, commissioned 50 new works designed to train students and emerging professionals in 21st-century repertoire. All materials are available free online, reinforcing Kronos’ commitment to access, education, and the future of music.
Few ensembles have forged a more global or genre-defying path. Collaborators include Wu Man, Zakir Hussain, Alim Qasimov, Asha Bhosle, Mahsa Vahdat, Taraf de Haïdouks, and Trio Da Kali. Their work spans punk (Patti Smith), alternative rock (The National), industrial (Nine Inch Nails), and beyond. Kronos has also performed with Paul McCartney, David Bowie, and Allen Ginsberg, and even appeared on Sesame Street.
Their performances explore themes of war, environmental crisis, social justice, and spirituality, making their work both emotionally powerful and socially relevant.
The Kronos discography is extensive and acclaimed, with three Grammy Award-winning albums: Sun Rings (2019), Landfall (2018), and Lyric Suite (2003). Notable recordings include Nuevo (2002), Long Time Passing (2020), and Songs and Symphoniques: The Music of Moondog (2023).
Kronos tours globally, performing in venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Barbican in London, Philharmonie de Paris, Sydney Opera House, and Suntory Hall in Tokyo.
Their work extends into film, including A Thousand Thoughts (2018), as well as soundtracks for Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, and Dracula. Their music has appeared in Academy Award–nominated documentaries including Dirty Wars and How to Survive a Plague.
Kronos is deeply committed to education, leading workshops and residencies at institutions worldwide, including Carnegie Hall, UC Berkeley, and the Royal Conservatory of Music.
Based in San Francisco, Kronos continues to manage its expansive work through the Kronos Performing Arts Association, encompassing touring, recordings, education, and the annual Kronos Festival.
Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat are internationally acclaimed Iranian singers, composers, and educators, and among the most influential voices in contemporary Persian music. As sisters and lifelong artistic partners, they have become iconic figures in the ongoing struggle of Iranian women for artistic freedom in the decades following the Islamic Revolution. For more than thirty years, they have carried their voices beyond borders, transforming restriction into resilience and silence into song.
Deeply rooted in the traditions of classical and regional Iranian music, the Vahdat sisters have developed a distinctive vocal language that honors tradition while courageously reimagining it. Their artistry weaves together classical forms, regional colors, poetic lyricism, and contemporary expression, creating music that is both intimate and expansive. Singing together, their voices form a deeply personal musical dialogue—shaped by sisterhood, shared memory, and a profound commitment to artistic freedom—where tenderness and defiance coexist.
In a homeland where women have been banned from solo singing since 1979, Mahsa and Marjan chose to let their voices travel. Their music, born of resilience, longing, and cultural memory, has touched audiences worldwide as a testament to the enduring power of art to preserve identity and imagine new futures. Today, based in California, they continue to expand their global presence through concerts, recordings, teaching, and cross-cultural collaborations.
Through long-standing collaborations with the Norwegian label Kirkelig Kulturverksted and producer-poet Erik Hillestad, as well as composer-arranger Atabak Elyasi, they have released numerous acclaimed and award-winning albums.
Over the years, the Vahdat sisters have collaborated with a wide range of distinguished artists and ensembles, including Kronos Quartet, Tord Gustavsen, Mighty Sam McClain, Bridget Kibbey, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, the SKRUK Choir, Zar Theatre, and the Grotowski Institute. Their work has been presented in leading concert halls and festivals around the world.
At the heart of Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat’s music lies a powerful choice: to sing freely, truthfully, and together—affirming the transformative power of sisterhood.
Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat are internationally acclaimed Iranian singers, composers, and educators, and among the most influential voices in contemporary Persian music. As sisters and lifelong artistic partners, they have become iconic figures in the ongoing struggle of Iranian women for artistic freedom in the decades following the Islamic Revolution. For more than thirty years, they have carried their voices beyond borders, transforming restriction into resilience and silence into song.
Deeply rooted in the traditions of classical and regional Iranian music, the Vahdat sisters have developed a distinctive vocal language that honors tradition while courageously reimagining it. Their artistry weaves together classical forms, regional colors, poetic lyricism, and contemporary expression, creating music that is both intimate and expansive. Singing together, their voices form a deeply personal musical dialogue—shaped by sisterhood, shared memory, and a profound commitment to artistic freedom—where tenderness and defiance coexist.
In a homeland where women have been banned from solo singing since 1979, Mahsa and Marjan chose to let their voices travel. Their music, born of resilience, longing, and cultural memory, has touched audiences worldwide as a testament to the enduring power of art to preserve identity and imagine new futures. Today, based in California, they continue to expand their global presence through concerts, recordings, teaching, and cross-cultural collaborations.
Through long-standing collaborations with the Norwegian label Kirkelig Kulturverksted and producer-poet Erik Hillestad, as well as composer-arranger Atabak Elyasi, they have released numerous acclaimed and award-winning albums.
Over the years, the Vahdat sisters have collaborated with a wide range of distinguished artists and ensembles, including Kronos Quartet, Tord Gustavsen, Mighty Sam McClain, Bridget Kibbey, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, the SKRUK Choir, Zar Theatre, and the Grotowski Institute. Their work has been presented in leading concert halls and festivals around the world.
At the heart of Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat’s music lies a powerful choice: to sing freely, truthfully, and together—affirming the transformative power of sisterhood.
Program Notes
VIET CUONG (b. 1990)
Next Week’s Trees (2024)
About Next Week’s Trees, Viet Cuong writes: “The title of this piece comes from Mary Oliver’s poem ‘Walking To Oak-Head Pond, And Thinking Of The Ponds I Will Visit In The Next Days And Weeks.’ In this particular time of great loss, I was deeply inspired by Oliver’s words—words that are a gentle reminder of the uncertainty of the future, the confident hope of the present, and the propulsive force of life that drives us through any doubt that a new day will arrive.”
Next Week’s Trees was commissioned by the California Symphony as part of their Young American Composer-in-Residence program.
NICOLE LIZÉE (b. 1973)
Death to Kosmische (2010)
Nicole Lizée is a composer, sound artist and keyboardist based in Montreal, Quebec. Her compositions range from works for large ensemble and solo turntablist featuring DJ techniques fully notated and integrated into a concert music setting, to other unorthodox instrument combinations that include the Atari 2600 video game console, Simon and Merlin handheld games, and karaoke tapes. Lizée has received commissions from artists and ensembles such as l’Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal, CBC, So Percussion, and Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society. In 2010 she was awarded a fellowship from the prestigious Civitella Ranieri Foundation based in New York City and Italy. She has twice been named a finalist for the Jules-Léger Prize, most recently in 2007 for This Will Not Be Televised, scored for chamber ensemble and turntables, and recommended among the Top Ten at the 2008 International Rostrum of Composers. In 2002 she was awarded the Canada Council for the Arts Robert Fleming Prize, and in 2004 she was nominated for an Opus Prize.
About Death to Kosmische, Lizée writes: “Death to Kosmische is a work that reflects my fascination with the notion of musical hauntology and the residual perception of music, as well as my love/hate relationship with the idea of genres. The musical elements of the piece could be construed as the faded and twisted remnants of the Kosmische style of electronic music. To do this, I have incorporated two archaic pieces of music technology (the Stylophone and the Omnichord) and have presented them through the gauze of echoes and reverberation, as well as through imitations of this technology as played by the strings. I think of the work as both a distillation and an expansion of one or several memories of music that are irrevocably altered by the impermanence of the mind. Only ghosts remain."
Nicole Lizée's Death to Kosmische was commissioned for the Kronos Quartet by Margaret Dorfman and the Ralph I. Dorfman Family Fund.
TRADITIONAL (arr. Jonathan Berger, after Rim Banna)
Ya Taali’een ‘ala el-Jabal (“Oh, You Who Are the Mountains”)
"Ya Taali’een ‘ala el-Jabal" is a traditional Palestinian song dating from the Ottoman reign. During the British Mandate, Palestinian women would sing the song outside the prisons where their loved ones were incarcerated. The song uses imlolaah, a Pig-Latin like insertion of an onomatopoeic word from the syllable ‘L’, followed by a vowel which is repeated in order to mask the original word. Thus the text was unintelligible to the guards.
The voice is that of the inimitable Rim Banna, whose performance of "Ya Taali’een" was never released publicly. It is used by permission of the Banna family.
PENI CANDRA RINI (b. 1983) (arr. Jacob Garchik)
Segara Gunung (2023)
- Hujan (“Rain”)
Peni Candra Rini is one of a few contemporary composers, songwriters, poets, and vocalists who performs sinden, a female soloist style of gamelan singing. Strongly committed to preserving and sharing the musical traditions of her home country of Indonesia, Candra Rini has created many works for vocals, gamelan, and karawitan, and regularly collaborates with artists and gamelan groups worldwide. In 2012, Candra Rini completed an artist residency at the California Art Institute, during which she appeared as guest artist at eight American universities and participated in master classes with vocal master Meredith Monk. Candra Rini is also a lecturer in the Karawitan Department and a Doctoral Candidate for Musical Arts at the Indonesian Art Institute (ISI) in Surakarta.
About Segara Gunung, Peni Candra Rini writes: “This music is about the mountains and the sea, and the respect we have for them in Indonesia. Mountains symbolize the unity of humans and the divine and are thought to be the abode of the Gods. The sea is a woman, the spring of springs and a source of all life.
“Indonesia is also a ring of fire, encircled by active volcanoes and frequently shaken by earthquakes. The mountain brings both destruction and life. The ash from frequent eruptions has created some of the most fertile soil in the world. Villages are damaged by the eruptions but then reap the boon of the harvest.
“But the traditional respect and reverence of the land and sea has eroded in my country—in your country—pushed aside by greed. Mountains become the backdrop for tourist photos and tourism erodes the environment. Waters are rising, washing villages into the sea. Ultimately, we must remember that mother earth will clean house: burning us up and washing us clean. Ready or not. Segara Gunung is my response to these changes.”
Peni Candra Rini’s Segara Gunung (Ocean-Mountain), arranged by Jacob Garchik, was commissioned for the Kronos Quartet in celebration of its 50th anniversary by Aga Khan Music Programme, Andrea A. Lunsford and Kirsten & Gilad Wolff. Additional commissioning support was provided by KRONOS Five Decades Lead Partners Cal Performances/University of California Berkeley, Carnegie Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts/University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Portland Friends of Chamber Music, and Stanford Live, and by Partners Arizona Arts Live/University of Arizona, Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA, Green Music Center at Sonoma State University, The Royal Conservatory of Music, and Washington Performing Arts.
Environmental sounds recorded in Borneo, courtesy of Yoga Nugraha Usmad.
PHILIP GLASS (b. 1937)
Mishima Quartet (1984)
I. 1957-Award Montage
II. November 25-Ichigaya
III. 1934-Grandmother And Kimitake
IV. 1962-Body Building
V. Blood Oath
VI. Mishima/Closing
Through his operas, his symphonies, his compositions for his own ensemble, and his wide-ranging collaborations with artists ranging from Twyla Tharp to Allen Ginsberg, Leonard Cohen to David Bowie, Philip Glass has had an extraordinary and unprecedented impact upon the musical and intellectual life of his times.
The operas—Einstein on the Beach, Satyagraha, Akhnaten, and The Voyage, among many others—play throughout the world’s leading houses, and rarely to an empty seat. Glass has written music for experimental theater and for Academy Award–winning motion pictures such as The Hours and Martin Scorsese’s Kundun, while Koyaanisqatsi, his initial filmic landscape with Godfrey Reggio and the Philip Glass Ensemble, may be the most radical and influential mating of sound and vision since Fantasia. His associations with leading rock, pop and world music artists date back to the 1960s, including the beginning of his collaborative relationship with artist Robert Wilson. Indeed, Glass is the first composer to win a wide, multi-generational audience in the opera house, the concert hall, the dance world, in film and in popular music—simultaneously.
He was born in 1937 and grew up in Baltimore. He studied at the University of Chicago, the Juilliard School and in Aspen with Darius Milhaud. Finding himself dissatisfied with much of what then passed for modern music, he moved to Europe, where he studied with the legendary pedagogue Nadia Boulanger (who also taught Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson and Quincy Jones) and worked closely with the sitar virtuoso and composer Ravi Shankar. He returned to New York in 1967 and formed the Philip Glass Ensemble: seven musicians playing keyboards and a variety of woodwinds, amplified and fed through a mixer.
The new musical style that Glass was evolving was eventually dubbed “minimalism.” Glass himself never liked the term and preferred to speak of himself as a composer of “music with repetitive structures.” Much of his early work was based on the extended reiteration of brief, elegant melodic fragments that wove in and out of an aural tapestry. Or, to put it another way, it immersed a listener in a sort of sonic weather that twists, turns, surrounds, develops.
There has been nothing “minimalist” about his output. Glass has composed more than thirty operas, large and small; fourteen symphonies, thirteen concertos; soundtracks to films ranging from new scores for the stylized classics of Jean Cocteau to Errol Morris’s documentary about former defense secretary Robert McNamara; nine string quartets; a growing body of work for solo piano and organ. He has collaborated with Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Yo-Yo Ma, and Doris Lessing, among many others.
The film Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, for which Mishima Quartet was written, is a film by Paul Schrader about the life and suicide of the celebrated Japanese writer, Yukio Mishima. The Kronos Quartet recording of Mishima Quartet is included on the Elektra/Nonesuch recording of the Mishima soundtrack.
Glass has written several other major pieces specifically for Kronos, starting with 1991’s “String Quartet No. 5” (featured on the 1995 Nonesuch album Kronos Quartet Performs Philip Glass) to, most recently, Quartet Satz for the Kronos Fifty for the Future project in 2017. “I automatically visualize them playing the music and know how they sound,” he says about writing music for Kronos. “I’m thinking, ‘This will be a good part for [violist] Hank. He will like this part.’ I think it’s likely I’ll never have this kind of a relationship with another quartet.”
MAHSA VAHDAT (b. 1973)
The Sun Rises (2016) (arr. Sahba Aminikia)
"The Sun Rises"
"Vanishing Lines"
"My Ruthless Companion"
About The Sun Rises, Sahba Aminikia writes: “Mahsa Vahdat is one of the most iconic female singers of contemporary, post-revolutionary Iran. She and her sister Marjan Vahdat have toured around the globe and have held numerous concerts throughout Asia, Europe, North America, and Africa, while maintaining their roles as strong advocates of freedom of expression.
“Since the Islamic revolution in 1979, women have been banned from singing in public, and especially in front of male audiences. Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat’s appearance on a scene from the controversial movie about Tehran’s underground music scene, No One Knows About Persian Cats (2009), while singing without Hijab on a rooftop in Tehran presented a monumental image of freedom to the young women of my country for decades to come.
“I am honored that I was able to bring the forces of Mahsa Vahdat and Kronos Quartet together and was able to help with this historic collaboration. This piece embodies three of Mahsa Vahdat’s songs from two of her solo albums, Traces of an Old Vineyard and A Capella - The Sun Will Rise.”
MAHSA VAHDAT (b. 1973)
"Vaya, Vaya" (2020) (arr. Atabak Elyasi)
About "Vaya, Vaya," Mahsa Vahdat writes: “Vaya, vaya is a deep expression of Love to a beloved, constantly transforming into a homeland. Since the pandemic arrived in California in March 2020, for more than one year, the most visited place for me has been a place in Berkeley where the Rose garden is situated. I walked there almost every day at the time of Sunset, the moment when the Sun turns its glow to my motherland where my breath is interwoven with its soil, the moment when darkness and light embrace each other and when the intense red, dark blue, and golden rays in the clouds create a unique image, while passion, rebellion, glow, hope, and sorrow entwine.
“With my deep longing and desire for my motherland these words and music came to me like a wonder. This zone in Berkeley is one of my dear zones in life. Wherever I roam in the world, this place will always remain in my heart.”
"Vaya, Vaya," music by Mahsa Vahdat and Atabak Elyasi, was commissioned for the Kronos Quartet by the Hamid and Christina Moghadam Program in Iranian Studies at Stanford University, with additional support from the Kronos Performing Arts Association.